President’s Message

SEARCH Homeless Services continues to learn and evolve to strategically end the homeless experience. We are driven by a desire to help a greater number of clients more efficiently reach the following outcomes: 1) obtain permanent housing, 2) increase income, and 3) improve their health through long-term stability. Meeting these outcomes takes a different strategy than what SEARCH started with in 1989.

We’ve learned that serving a high number of clients with essential services of meals, showers, and other basic needs produces limited results. In contrast, focused intensive care coordination and use of evidence based practices that facilitates behavior change are more effective to help people achieve goals and end their homeless plight.

Some of the services that SEARCH had been delivering for many years are now provided by others. Our current facilities have also become inadequate to support the services that are now needed. And lastly, public resources and practices are changing at every level as they are applying what they’ve learned to more effectively stop the cycle of poverty and homelessness. The service delivery model throughout the nation is moving from helping people who are homeless in crisis driven, emergency services, which is more costly and inefficient, to helping them from within permanent housing to access mainstream support.

SEARCH is adjusting our service model and strategies in order to:

Make significant, faster progress with clients to gain housing, income and healthier life.

Increase our impact with clients we are best suited to serve, concentrating our efforts on job seekers, preschoolers, and people who are chronically homeless. (A chronically homeless person is defined as a single person/head of household that has a disabling condition AND has been homeless for at least one full year OR four times within past three years.)

Channel time, energy, and financial investments in areas where we are unique and most effective.

Support the staff and community partners with better training and resources.

Create purposefully built facilities including a new school to expand our House of Tiny Treasures capacity and a building to more strategically serve adult clients.

Stay tuned and invest in SEARCH’s work as we need your on-going partnership to end homelessness as we know it.